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Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37232
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: raymond.burk{at}vanderbilt.edu.
The nutrition career of William Norman Pearson spanned just 2 decades, ending with his death at the age of 44 y in 1968. Despite the brevity of his career, Bill Pearson made important contributions in basic, clinical, and international nutrition. Along the way, his scholarship and service led to his becoming a prominent leader in the field.
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Bill Pearson was born on January 5, 1924 in Butler, New Jersey. His paternal grandfather had emigrated to the US from England and his father, William, was born in New Jersey. His mother, Amelia (nee Smith), was from New York City. Bill had an older sister, Miriam, who became a nurse. He attended Butler High School, where he was in the drama club, and graduated in 1941.
After high school, Bill Pearson matriculated at Tusculum College, a small Presbyterian school in Greeneville, TN, and a few months thereafter the US entered World War II. Bill was called to active duty in the Army after his 2nd y of study. His military service consisted largely of science study at Pasadena (California) Junior College and the University of Oregon, apparently because the Army was grooming him to become an officer. While in the Army, Bill's wry sense of humor found expression in his communications with Tusculum officials. In his letters, he bantered with them in a good-natured way about his letter-writing ability and about college administrative procedures, while clearing the way for completing college after the war. After his discharge in 1946, he returned to Tusculum. He shouldered a heavy academic load and excelled in his studies to a greater extent than he had before his Army time, graduating with a B.A. in 1 y. He also was active in the college theater group.
Influenced by Tusculum biology professor Dr. Mike Wright, Bill enrolled in graduate school at Vanderbilt University in 1947. He completed his research thesis entitled "Certain Aspects of the Amino Acid Metabolism of Bacterium Phosphorescens Indigenus (Eisenberg) Chester" under the direction of Dr. Ilda McVeigh and received a Ph.D. in biology in 1951.
While still a graduate student, Bill Pearson came to the attention of Dr. William J. Darby, Chairman of the Department of Biochemistry in the School of Medicine. Dr. Darby, a prominent nutritionist, hired him as an instructor in 1950 and Bill Pearson began to apply his talents to nutritional biochemistry. Some of Dr. Pearson's early research efforts related to tryptophan availability from maize (1). This was relevant to Tennessee, as pellagra had been endemic there before the war and it remained an important problem in developing countries where maize was often the major source of energy.
In 1955 when the Interdepartmental Committee on Nutrition for National Defense (ICNND) was established to improve the nutrition of civilians and soldiers of developing countries that were U.S. allies (2), several Vanderbilt faculty members took key roles in its operations. Bill Pearson was one of them, serving as laboratory director for nutrition surveys conducted in the Phillipines, Spain, Ecuador, Paraguay, Lebanon, Jordan, and Trinidad. The exposure to severe nutritional problems provided by these surveys reinforced for Dr. Pearson the urgent need for nutrition research and, undoubtedly, strengthened his commitment to the field.
In the course of his work with ICNND, Dr. Pearson improved many of the biochemical methods that were in use for nutritional assessment. In addition, he played a major role in the preparation of the 2nd edition of the ICNND publication, "Manual for Nutrition Surveys" (3). This slender book contains instructions on the conduct of nutrition surveys and served as the best handbook on this topic for many years.
Dr. Pearson had a consuming interest in biochemical assessment of nutritional status, as indicated by his publications on this topic in general medical journals (4) as well as in more specialized journals (5). Moreover, he undertook investigations in his own laboratory on the metabolism of individual nutrients in experimental animals with the aim of discovering how to assess their status in human beings. As an example, he published 10 papers on the metabolism of thiamine in the 1960s. He and his students employed 14C-labeled compounds to trace thiamine metabolism in rats. They identified new products of its catabolism and clarified several points concerning its metabolism. For this work, Dr. Pearson received the Mead Johnson Award from the AIN (a precursor of the ASN) in 1968. Efforts were also mounted in the Pearson laboratory to characterize iron absorption and selenium metabolism.
As a medical student, I had a place in the Pearson lab from 1964 until Dr. Pearson's death. My work on selenium began there under his guidance. His lab was a happy place, because his high expectations were always tempered by a light touch. I witnessed the involvement of other medical students, graduate students, and scientists from developing countries engaged in a number of fruitful projects.
My experience in the lab was typical. Dr. Pearson spent a whole day with me teaching me how to mix experimental diets and care for animals. He passed along directly to me many important nutrition principles and procedures that my colleagues and I use to this day. His other students benefited similarly from his tutelage.
In addition to extensive teaching and service commitments at Vanderbilt where he rose to the rank of Professor of Biochemistry, Bill Pearson was a leader in the AIN. After serving as chairman of its International Nutrition Committee (1963–1966), he became Secretary of the Institute. He strongly supported the Journal of Nutrition and had been selected to become its editor on January 1, 1969.
Bill Pearson was noted for his sense of humor. He had a talent for entertaining that was evidenced in his student days by participation in theater groups. Colleagues remember his mastery of Bob Newhart's routines and other amusing presentations that made nutrition survey and study section evenings more pleasant. His colleagues and lab members remember that working with Bill was always enjoyable.
During his post-war year at Tusculum, Bill met Miss Patricia Weiss, a freshman from Long Island, New York. Their relationship deepened while he was a graduate student at Vanderbilt and they married on June 18, 1950, after she had graduated from Tusculum. Pat accompanied Bill on several of his international trips for nutrition surveys and made his students welcome in their home. The Pearsons had 3 children: Catherine Wheeldon (Couey), Christopher William, and Mark Phillip. Christopher died on November 28, 1968 in the same automobile accident that claimed his father. Mrs. Pearson married Leland L. Estes, Ph.D. in 1985 and he died in 2005. Mrs. Estes and daughter Catherine reside in Nashville and son Mark lives in Atlanta.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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FOOTNOTES |
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2 A supplemental listing of Dr. Pearson's publications is available with the online posting of this article at jn.nutrition.org.
Manuscript received 17 July 2008. Initial review completed 21 August 2008. Revision accepted 22 August 2008.
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LITERATURE CITED |
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 TOP LITERATURE CITED |
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1. Mangay AS, Pearson WN, Darby WJ. Millet (Setaria italica): its amino acid and niacin content and supplementary nutritive value for corn (maize). J Nutr. 1957;62:377–93.
2. Combs GF. History of Interdepartmental Committee on Nutrition for National Defense. J Nutr. 2005;135:1263–5.
3. Interdepartmental Committee on Nutrition for National Defense. Manual for nutrition surveys. 2nd ed. Bridgforth EB, Combs GF, Darby WJ, Hand DB, Hegsted DM, Martin HR, McGanity WJ, Parrott EM, Pearson WN, Schaefer AE, Teply LJ, Wilson CS, Hodge CT, Pineda NA, editors. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; 1963.
4. Pearson WN. Biochemical appraisal of the vitamin nutritional status in man. JAMA. 1962;180:49–55.
5. Pearson WN. Blood and urinary vitamin levels as potential indices of body stores. Am J Clin Nutr. 1967;20:514–25.[Medline]
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